How Winter Came for a Soccer Mom

With my son’s new soccer season set to start this week, I have been experiencing flashbacks to last year’s season as a Soccer Mom. You may remember my epic Story of a Soccer Mom in SoccerVille from last spring but I never imagined that winter would bring an even stranger tale to tell…

We started last September feeling incredibly optimistic after having found a new soccer club in Soccer Landing for Little C. Our hearts were open to meeting a new set of parents who are trying to ~~nurture their 8 year old boys~~ wear them out so we aren’t driven to scream “dracarys!” by dinnertime. We were looking forward to a fun-filled season in our new soccer community.

After three weeks, I was impressed by how organized it all was with team assignments and schedules all prepared in advance. It also became apparent that no other parent was willing to volunteer to be the Soccer Mom (otherwise known as the team manager) for Little C’s team. I finally volunteered to do it despite my reservations as it didn’t seem fair for the coach to have to go it alone. Surely this time would be different?

As a new team in Soccer Landing with new coaches, a new Soccer Mom and all new players, we knew nothing. Little did we know it but winter was coming for us.

The winds of winter would leave this Soccer Mom with many tales to tell in a season defined by snow and ice. I won’t bore you with all the gory details but gnaw on this like a hungry direwolf north of the wall:

As a late addition to the team as the Soccer Mom, I received no ravens with instructions from Soccer Landing on what I was supposed to do. I did my best to keep the team on track and the parents in the loop.
Little C’s team was brand new and played against some Soccer Landing teams who seemed to have been together for a long time. Our kids gave it their all but they lost almost every game. Winning isn’t everything and they kept their spirits up and had lots of fun. But it was disheartening to see, kind of like watching Viserion being taken down by the Night King over and over again. Hard for all the parent watchers on the wall too.
Meanwhile we didn’t even know how to pay our refs properly until November. Unbeknownst to me, our coach was paying them but had no idea you could get reimbursed. I found out when I was asked for some coin at a game where our coach was away and had my eyes opened like a three eyed raven in the midst of a vision of Jon Snow’s parentage.
In the meantime, it turned out that Soccer Landing wasn’t sending any of the ravens with special instructions for Soccer Moms my way until January. I finally realized there was a lot of important info I was missing out on after I got my ass handed to me for not meeting certain deadlines and raised my banners in protest to get myself in the loop.
Dealing with the team raffle tickets was a nightmare akin to the Red Wedding. By the time the carnage was over, I had resigned as the Soccer Mom for the team. Here’s some free advice: do not ever agree to administer a raffle. If something goes wrong, you don’t want to get pulled into the Frey.
It’s a footnote but one of our kids never did receive a jersey with the sigil of our house. Seriously Cersei.

Maybe it was fortunate that winter came and cut the season short with only a handful of games after the holidays. While I did eventually agree to finish last season as the Soccer Mom for the team, the north remembers. And so do I.

While we are looking forward to a new season of soccer in Soccer Landing this year, I’ll be just another mom watching from the wall.